According to Hong Kong Cancer Registry, Hospital Authority, the most common cancers in 2013 are colon cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, melanoma, uterus cancer, lymphoma and nasopharynx cancer.
The top 10 cancer killers in Hong Kong: 1. Lung cancer. 2. Colon cancer. 3. Liver cancer. 4. Gastric cancer. 5. Breast cancer. 6. Pancreatic cancer. 7. Prostate cancer. 8. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 9. Esophagus cancer. 10. Nasopharyx cancer.
Among them, the top 10 cancer killers for the males are: 1. Lung cancer (accounts for 31.4% of mortality rate), 2. Liver cancer (14.2%), 3. Colon cancer (13.7%), 4. Gastric cancer (4.8%), 5. Prostate cancer (4.7%), 6. Pancreatic cancer (2.95%), 7. Esophagus cancer (3.3%), 8. Nasopharynx cancer (3%), 9. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (2.6%), 10. Leukemia (2.3%).
The top 10 cancer killers for females
1. Lung cancer (accounts for 24.3% of cancer mortality), 2. Colon cancer (15.8%), 3. Breast cancer (10.5%), 4. Liver cancer (7.1%), 5. Pancreatic cancer (4.8%), 6. Gastric cancer (43%), 7. Ovarian cancer (3.7%), 8. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (2.6%), 9. Uterus cancer (2.5%), 10. Leukemia (2.2%).
Female cancer patients will outnumber male cancer patients in 5-10 years in Hong Kong
In 2013, there are 14, 914 males and 14, 022 females that were diagnosed with cancer and the ratio stands at 1.06:1. However, the ratio in 2003 was 1.23:1. We can see that the ratio difference has significantly narrowed. The Hospital Authority estimated that female cancer patients will outnumber male cancer patients within 5-10 years according to current incidence rate and demographic structure.
According to Hong Kong Cancer Registry, Hospital Authority, there are 28,936 newly diagnosed cancer cases in 2013, 1,088 cases more than that in 2012. The incidence of cancer among females between 20 to 60 is higher than that of males mainly because of the high incidence rate of breast cancer, carcinoma of uterine cervix, uterus cancer and ovarian cancer. Among the age group of 20-40, the incidence rate of cancer among females is two times of that of males.
60% of cancer cases occur to people over 60 years old
Moreover, 60% of cancer cases occur to people over 60 years old. Hence, experts believed that cancer incidence and cancer mortality are related with age. According to the statistics in 2013, one out of four males will suffer from cancer before getting 75 years old while only one out of five females will suffer from cancer. One out of nine males below 75 years old will die of cancer while the number among females is one out of fifteen.
As most women will survive males and the incidence rate of cancer will increase with age, it will not be surprising that female cancer patients will outnumber male cancer patients in the future.
Once served as the research assistant at the Medical School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Li Jialiang, the director of Cancer Prevention and Rehabilitation Center of Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital, noted, “Early detection of cancer can help early diagnosis so as to make corresponding strategies and improve therapeutic effects.” Breast cancer is the 3rd most common cancer among females in Hong Kong and an increasing number of women are diagnosed with cancer recently. He suggested that women should keep a close eye on their physical condition and do targeted examination regularly.
Expert profile
Dr. Li Jiangliang was graduated from Norman Bethune Health Science Center of Jilin University in 1999. He obtained his master degree of medical immunology at Institute of Virology, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2005. He obtained his Doctoral Degree of Molecular Chemistry and Molecular Biology at Peking Union Medical College. Served as research assistant at the Medical School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2009 to 2010, he currently served as the director of Cancer Prevention and Rehabilitation Center of Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital.